Global communication
Today, June 29, Elon Musk spoke on the virtual stage of the Mobile World Congress 2021 conference.
The Starlink network is designed to provideaccess to the Internet by deploying a large number of small vehicles weighing up to 500 kg in near-earth orbit. In May 2019, its first 60 vehicles were launched into space. Earlier it was reported that SpaceX plans to provide wireless Internet worldwide using the Starlink satellite system by September. However, during the presentation, Musk announced different dates.
“By August we should have global connectivity everywhere except the Earth's poles,” he said during a speech at MWC. It looks like the launch will take place at least a month earlier than experts expected.
Reduced Starlink Installation Cost
Starlink will perfectly bridge the network gap5G and fiber optic cable, Elon Musk noted in his speech. He also stated that the network will have 500 000 users within the next 12 months.
The question remains open to what extentIs the Starlink network available to individuals? Purchasing a Starlink dish will cost the user approximately $500. However, Musk noted that the monthly subscription will be "the same price worldwide," excluding taxes. “With the exchange rate, that’s about $100 dollars a month,” he said.
Elon Musk said that Starlink will reachglobal availability is coming soon and is already accepting pre-orders for the service for $ 99 per month (you will also need to pay $ 499 for equipment, including satellite dish, Wi-Fi router, power supply, cables and installation). Starlink already has over 10,000 customers.
Musk also made it clear that SpaceX is working onnext generation terminals that can offer the same services at a lower cost. The fact is that, according to him, the company is losing money, since each terminal costs about $1,000. “We are working on a second generation of satellites that will be significantly cheaper, and our goal is to get the price around US$300.” Starlink, which already has 1,500 satellites in low orbit, expects to attract 500,000 customers within one year. Overall, the current network has a total power of 5 MW and a throughput of 30 Tbps.
The task is not to go bankrupt
According to Elon Musk, total investmentat Starlink will range from $5 billion to $10 billion before the project reaches positive cash flow. At the same time, over the entire period of the project’s existence, the total volume of capital investments could amount to “$20-30 billion,” he added. “In other words, it’s a lot,” he said. In addition, the head of SpaceX expects the number of Starlink customers to reach half a million within the next year.
“Point to the sky and connect”
“Our clients very often live in remoteregions. Sometimes they live in a hut in the mountains where there is not even electricity! " To solve the problem, SpaceX designs the system so that it does not need a lot of maintenance and connects to the network in just five minutes. “Our users should be able to simply point the terminal to the sky and connect,” he said.
As an interesting point, Musk noted that Starlink satellites revolve around the Earth at a distance of about 500 km, while geosynchronous satellites are at a distance of about 1000 km.
Musk also talked about the potentialpartnerships with mobile operators. “We have two pretty important partnerships with telecommunications companies in major countries and we continue to negotiate,” Musk said. This is useful because a number of countries have their own requirements. For example, to obtain a 5G license, it is necessary to provide coverage in rural areas. So sometimes urban customers end up subsidizing rural users.”
SpaceX Starship launch pad to be ready in coming months
“With the Falcon 9 we have achieved the most efficientreusable for any rocket today, ”Musk said. Some rockets have to take off 20 or even 30 times. The Falcon 9's oxygen to fuel ratio instead of helium is roughly 3.5: 1. Helium is expensive, so the cost of fuel for Starship will be comparable to that of the Falcon 9, but fully reusable, Musk explained.
The cost of reusing Starship will bejust under $2 million dollars. The spacecraft will also receive orbital refueling, mainly with oxygen. This is “the first system that will allow the construction of a base on the Moon and a city on Mars.”
"We hope to make our first attemptorbital launch [for Starship] in the next few months,” Musk said. He also said that Starship's orbital launch pad will be ready in the next month or so.
Previous statements about Starlink's fate
Starlink launched last Octoberthe Better Than Nothing Beta program in the United States, providing Internet access at data rates up to 150 Mbps. Feedback from users of the service is mixed, some of them complain about a problem traditional for satellite Internet - dependence on weather conditions. It also turned out that Starlink ground equipment is sensitive to high temperatures. Due to the overheating of the satellite dish, one of the users even had to water it with water in order to cool the equipment to the required level and restore the system's performance.
SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwellsaid in April that the company had "a lot of work to do to make the network reliable." But the questions are raised not only by the efficiency of the system, but also by its profitability. According to Musk, Starlink can serve less than 5% of all Internet users and generate $ 30 billion in revenue per year. Critics of the project called it wishful thinking.
“Is there a demand for it from tens of millionssubscribers at that price ?, asks analyst Tim Farrar, president of TMF Associates. "In most parts of the world, if you told someone that your broadband service would cost $ 100, they would find it incredible." Farrar believes that in isolated areas there may be rich people willing to pay such amounts for Internet access, "but there are not so many such people."
The analyst also noted in an interview with Reuters,that Starlink will have to struggle to find enough capacity to support adequate levels of service, especially as users consume more data to stream video. And this may be associated with significant additional costs for upgrading the system and adding new satellites.
The future of Ilona Mask's companies
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say thatElon Musk's companies are changing the face of modern society. From Tesla's all-electric vehicles (most recently the refurbished Model S Plaid1), which outperforms traditional automakers' electric supercars, to the unprecedented flights of SpaceX's Starship prototypes and the rapidly expanding Starlink network, his tech empire is evolving.
Ultimately, his companies changeinfrastructure and the way we travel. They have already made private space flights and reusable rockets a reality. And, of course, there's Neuralink, which aims to combine the human brain with a computer.
That said, with legal disputes in the U.S. and abroad, and in a world plagued by industrial and social hardships following the COVID-19 crisis, this is likely to be a tough journey.
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